Passion Redefined !!!! The Ahmedabad Experience

Indiya!! Indiya!!

On the day of the festival of Holi, I found out that a friend had an extra ticket to India’s QuarterFinal at Ahmedabad. Having missed India’s match at Delhi against the Dutch, I was absolutely keen to go. Travel tickets were booked instantly and I have probably never been as excited as I was for this cricket match.

The night before the big game, after reaching Ahmedabad we three were so excited about the prospect of watching a game, that it made us wonder what the players go through. There was energy and anxiety amongst us and crossing the team’s hotel Marriot, we knew we weren’t the only ones. There were quite a few people trying to get a glimpse of the team or trying to get in. We didn’t give it try, since we knew it wouldn’t work with all the security arrangements made.

The next morning, we got up early due to nervousness more than anything else. After having a nice heavy breakfast, we were off to the stadium wearing our Indian jerseys. On our way in the 3-wheeler, number of motorists asked us to make sure India wins and wished us best of luck. Random people stopping and giving you a smile and a thumbs up, doesn’t happen everyday.

At around 12 PM, after smuggling in phones past the security, we managed second row seats on the 1st floor of the North stand. The view was absolutely amazing. Even though the stadium was dirty and the temperatures were high as well, it didn’t bother us one bit. As expected, thousands of people had already come in. At the center, Sourav Ganguly was examining the pitch and he walked off to a huge roar.

A little later, Aussies came in groups to see the 22 yards that matter. Indians too, slowly started arriving. As the two teams started doing some warm-ups and fielding drills, Australians were booed while Indians were getting cheers. The biggest cheer was obviously reserved for Sachin Tendulkar. The moment Tendulkar emerged from behind the sight screen, the noise level increased by four-five times. It almost announced his arrival to the opposition, who surely would have realized it.

Another few minutes later, the teams came out for the respective national anthems. I must admit, I have never felt this proud singing the National Anthem. Doing it in chorus with another 40,000 plus Indians is one moment I am surely not going to forget. I almost felt that even if India loses this game, the money and time spent on this trip is still totally worth it because of this proud moment. Chants of ‘India-India’ could be heard all over and I was among the loudest people in the stands as usual.

Soon, Ravichandran Ashwin had the ball in his hand and Shane Watson was on strike. Zaheer Khan bowled from the other end and India bowled out a few quiet overs. The excitement everytime Zaheer, Ashwin or anyother bowler were running to bowl was superb. Once, the offie cleaned up Watson, we were dancing to bollywood tracks and dhols(musical instrument) playing in the stadium. The Indian flags were waving high and proud.

Ricky Ponting arrived to another loud boo. I am an admirer of Ponting the batsmen, so obviously wasn’t among them. In fact, I had a gut feeling that he would play well and I got quite some flake from my friends for saying so. He was looking solid right from the start and with every ball he played, my gut feeling got stronger. As time went on, the batsmen started piling up the runs and the crowds started going quieter. As Ponting went to make a good fighting hundred, he got an ovation from a minority of the crowd, which wasn’t great to see.

Munaf Patel who was standing in front of our stand, was having some fun with crowds and asking them to make some noise. Certain section of the crowd had started trying the mexican wave and we followed in. Soon, the wave was going through the whole stadium with amazing speed. While this was happening, Micheal Clarke lost his wicket to Yuvraj Singh who had once again given India a reason to cheer. Micheal Hussey arrived, but his stay wasn’t long as Zaheer Khan got rid of him in his second spell.

By now, the crowds had gone beserk with excitement and energy. We were jumping on the seats and dancing to just any silly song that was being played. One of the biggest cheer so far was heard when Tendulkar was given the ball by skipper MS Dhoni. Even though the move surprised us, people instantly started saying that their money was worth, since the Master was bowling. The brief amount of time he was standing in front of our stand was easily the most active people had got so far.

Everyone was hoping, Australia are limited to a small total so that India wins comfortably. But, Ricky Ponting was determined to play a captain’s knock and he sure did that. Ponting showed he is still a champion batsmen. The big question however, was how much can Australia stretch to the final few overs. In spite of Harbhajan Singh’s expensive final over, India did really well in restricting the Aussies to just 260.

After a mid innings break, Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar walked out to bat. Everyone, from Sudhir Chowdhuri to the least energetic people, were ready for some fireworks. Sehwag produced just that as he smashed a four off Brett Lee off the 4th delivery. A couple of balls later, their was a UDRS appeal regarding a caught behind appeal against Sehwag. The UDRS said not out and Indian fans were joyful. After the over, Lee was fielding in front of our stand and obviously booed for that referral.

A few moments later, Tendulkar drove the ball to the boundary for his first four. Everyone could only talk about the ‘The Little Master’ and it was Sachinism at its best. The love and respect that India has for this legend could be seen in the stand. Most were bowing down to him or lost in his awe. Just brilliant atmosphere.

What I personally loved the most was how much Cricket unites the country. Every four meant I would be giving high-fives to unknown strangers. We had made some good friends in these hours spent together. It didn’t matter if we were of different religions or didn’t know each others’ name, all that mattered was that India was doing well.

After surviving some nervous moments when India lost crucial middle order wickets, we changed our positions to help India win(superstitions). A while later, with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina finishing off what Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir had partly set up, their seemed no limit to our joy. People were congratulating the same policemen who they were fighting with a few hours back. MS Dhoni’s capataincy was being talked about by people who were critizing him a little while earlier. Everyone was a hero, even the substitute fielders. With this, I continued my 100% record of making India win everytime I watched a game live.

On our way back, there was chaos, traffic congestion, dust storm(sort of) and much more. But not one person complained. All they cared about was that India came up out victorious. The mood was just amazing. Every group, every car, every bus was filled with people who were satisfied and glad. While walking back, we danced with random strangers, shouted along with them, in spite of hardly having the energy to speak. Flags were being waved tall and proud. The passion on display was worth watching. Surely all cricket fans would have heard about it, but to witness it at its glorius best was just unbelievable.

After taking a lift in a car, we reached our hotel. The excitement had not yet sunk in, we were absolutely enjoying it. Our throats and palms had suffered due to too much screaming, clapping and cheering. But it didn’t matter, we still kept shouting pro-India slogans in the Hotel room. All the walking, jumping, shouting, travelling had made us all very tired physically, but the win meant we were mentally absolutely fresh and we didn’t sleep even one but that night. Already talks of going to Mohali for the all important India-Pakistan Semi-Final had started. All in all, it was one hell of an experience.

For all those of you, who are cricket fans(particularly Indians) but have never watched a match live in India, you MUST go for one, really must. It is an experience of a life time.